Elegant Traveling in the Late 60s

In 1967 Montreal hosted a world fair called the1967 International and Universal Exposition, more commonly known as Expo 67. It is considered to have been the most successful World Fair of the 20th century setting a single day attendance with 569,000 visitors in one day. It ran from April to October. Later on, the fair extended to “Man and His World”, a collection of the buildings and pavilions donated by many of the 62 countries that participated in Expo 67.

This post is not about Expo 67, but sets the tone as to the destination of a special trip my mother and father took in August of 1968. As a child of 8, I don’t recall my parents taking many trips together. In fact, as a family, our trips were mostly local museums and visits to my father’s childhood home where my grandmother and many aunts and uncles lived.

I recall my mother telling me about this particular trip. Looking back on our conversation, I am reminded that back then, traveling was different than what it is today. It seems most of us don’t really think much about the process of getting to our destination, other than making it as short and painless as possible. Since my parents didn’t travel much, ANY travel was an exciting event. Montreal is a short 2 hour drive from Ottawa, however my parents opted to take the train to Montreal. I recall my mother telling me of the excitement leading up to their weekend adventure.

I so enjoy this old picture of my parents dressed up and ready for the adventure. Mom had told me she had brought 3 dresses, one for the trip to Montreal, one for the visit to the exhibition and one for the trip back home. Dad wore his suit, and they both looked so elegant, ready to have a great time.

The train ride itself, albeit a short one, was a fun part of the adventure. They had a great time touring all the pavilions and knowing my love for reading, they bought me my first book. I treasure this book and to this day, read it every summer! A souvenir of that special trip my parents enjoyed so much.

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apptraveler

Retired exec consultant who traveled for more than 4 decades, both corporate and leisure.
I appreciate my travel experience and want to share tips, photos and stories with readers! I live in Ottawa Canada and have traveled to 31 countries.

51 thoughts on “Elegant Traveling in the Late 60s”

Love this. So true that nowadays it’s all about shortening travel times so as to spend more time at your destination. A plane ride today would be much more dapper if people dresses for for excitement rather than comfort…

This is such a beautiful and interesting story. It is indeed true that most of us don’t think much about the process of getting to our destination anymore and it’s really a shame as that is also part of the fun. We’re more interested in getting to our destination as quickly as possible.

I appreciate travel so much ad you’re right these days we don’t really think of our transportation do our destination, I don’t think we appreciate our painless ways of transport; thus, there is not as much excitement for the journey as there once was! I lived in Ottawa myself and going to Montreal was as simple as can be! loved both cities and loved reading this blog 🙂 thank you for sharing!

Thanks Harini for your comments – I really appreciate you mentioning the shortness of my articles. Many would state we need to have really long ones, but I prefer shorter recognizing that readers are often short on time and won’t read a very long post. As well, since this is more my style, I’ve decided to stick with my format that suits me best!

This is so great! I long for times like this, especially when flying. People wear whatever they want now, and the elegance is gone. Of course, there’s also zero room on airplanes, so comfort is essential. *sigh*

My grandmother was a big traveler, too, and bringing me trinkets from her travels definitely inspired wanderlust in me. I believe she traveled to a World’s Fair as well! Travel has certainly changed since those days, especially in the way we dress to travel!

In 2017, it can be so easy to take the ability to travel for granted. Travel is still a privilege, but it’s incredible how much easier it is to travel to another region, country or continent! Thank you for sharing a refreshing perspective on the value of travel.

What a lovely picture of your parents, they do look very elegant. I can only imagine how wonderful the Expo must have been back in 67. Too bad people didn’t have cell phones back then, I bet your parents could have captured some magical shots along their train ride.

Hi Clare, Thanks for your comments. I’m excited to say Montreal has put together a follow up 50th anniversary exhibit about Expo 67, with many of the original pavilions, interactive displays etc. I’m scheduling to visit this month! More photos to come!